Love-ly

As many of you may already know, our week started out with a bang!  You may remember me writing about some funny lights we noticed around downtown Chicago:

 

They were part of the Chicago Loop Alliance's "Love Songs and Lights" a Valentine's promotion.  They were installed at Christmas time as an alternative to Christmas trees (more cost effective and modern/artsy, I guess) but they stay up all year and apparently adjust to each holiday.  In my research into what they were, I noticed that I could dedicate a love song to my loved one!  So, despite the fact that we don't live in Chicago and would never know if it was actually played, I dedicated Ray LaMontagne's "You are the Best Thing" to Ben.  As it happens, it was also a contest and Monday morning I unsuspectingly opened an email telling me that my dedication was the winner!  Not A winner, but THE winner!

Our prize:
- Overnight accommodation in a Classic Room at theWit
- Dinner for two at State and Lake Chicago Tavern ($100 value)
- Two tickets to Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC courtesy of Broadway In Chicago
-They also played the dedicated song every hour from the 14th - 19th, unfortunately, we didn't gt to hear or see it :(

That day we were both in a giddy daze.  I know I still can't believe it happened.  It was so funny to talk to the people from CLA because they kept saying "don't worry, this is real" because, I mean, who actually wins stuff like this?!?  If all goes well we're planning to redeem our prize next weekend!

Happy day-before-Valentine's Day to us!

Tuesday, of course, was actually Valentine's Day.  Now, I want to preface by explaining the great system we've come up with to ensure that we get some quality time together each day.  I get out of work/class each day at 5pm.  I'll go to the gym and then Ben will bring a home made dinner and we'll sit in this RANDOM nook that is nestled in a corner by the second floor bathrooms.

This is a picture from a couple days before Valentine's.  The sign reads "family dinner" and was conveniently left just outside the nook.  We just couldn't resist a little re-staging :)

We were heading to a different location one evening and turned the corner to find this spot complete with table, chairs, and table cloth.  People walk by and smile or tease us amiably.

So back to Valentine's Day.  Ben arrived at our spot early and set up the scene:  dinner, sparkling cider in champagne flutes, flowers, and a bag of Ghiradelli Chocolates!  It was just the perfect thing.  Ben's been wanting to try out a place in town called Baked that delivers freshly baked cookies, so I surprised him with a half dozen chocolate and mint-chip cookies.  This place is so cool!  You custom order your cookies and they deliver them in a pizza box along with small cartons of milk.

So we had a lovely dinner after which I proceeded to pull my first all-nighter of the semester!

Thursday was my second all-nighter.  I made a mock-up of my final project for my period pattern making class.  It's an outfit from 1914.  My model: Julia!

The one-piece wrap skirt; essentially a hobble skirt

The entire ensemble: with bolero and shirt waist - Front view

The ensemble - back view

From here, I'll make adjustments to the pattern and cut it into fashion fabric, it sounds so simple... *cries into her pillow*  I'm just kidding... this was actually a lot of fun to make.

Also, Last weekend Ben auditioned for Indiana Festival Theatre, which is summer stock theatre based out of IU.  Their shows this summer are "The Taming of the Shrew" and "You Can't Take It With You".  We don't know when he'll hear back about that, but he was called back for a long time, so we're hopeful anyway.  Tomorrow he auditions for "Big River" at the Cardinal Stage, where he did "Annie."